Former Vikings QB Takes Over in Arizona for Week 17
The Arizona Cardinals have gone through some serious QB troubles in 2022. They lost starter Kyler Murray to a torn ACL earlier this year, and now this week, backup Colt McCoy will be forced to sit out with concussion symptoms. Because of that, their QB3 and former Vikings QB, David Blough, will be in line to take the reins of the offense against the Atlanta Falcons.
The veteran backup has not started a game since 2019 when he took over for an injured Matthew Stafford for the final five games of the season. The Lions didn’t win a single game in that final span with their rookie QB, and he passed for 984 yards, 4 TDs, and 6 INTs.
Prior to that rookie season, Blough earned himself a reputation as a bit of a gunslinger over his four-year career at Purdue. During those seasons from 2015-18, he passed for 9734 yards, 69 TDs, and 43 INTs. In his final season, he had a banner year of 3705 yards, 25 TDs, and 10 INTs while completing passes at a 66% clip.
Purdue went 6-7 in that year, though, as their defense allowed 30 PPG, ranking 83rd in the country. Because of that, Blough’s production flew a bit under the radar, and he went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft. The Browns picked him up as an UDFA, but they traded him to Detroit prior to the season’s start.
That set up Blough’s tenure as the backup to Stafford in both 2019 and 2020 as well as 2021 behind Jared Goff. Overall, he appeared in 7 games for the Lions in three years, and he passed for 1033 yards, 4 TDs, and 7 INTs.
Blough began the 2022 preseason with the Lions as well, appearing in all three games, including one start. He passed for 377 yards, 2 TDs, and an interception. He completed 62.2% of his passes as well. However, the Lions cut him, allowing the Vikings to pick him up prior to Week 1 against the Packers and place him on the practice squad.
The Vikings had been in need of a backup QB virtually all summer as neither Sean Mannion or Kellen Mond proved to be outstanding candidates. The Vikings cut both these players, and Mannion went to Seattle while Mond headed to Cleveland. They also proceeded to trade for Nick Mullens, acquiring him from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Blough did not appear in any games for the Vikings, and he was signed off the practice squad by Arizona in the wake of Kyler Murray’s torn ACL. Now, he gets to run an NFL offense in Week 17 for the first time in nearly three years.
There isn’t a group with many more weapons than Arizona for him to throw to. DeAndre Hopkins is a premiere wide receiver in the league, and the secondary options of RB James Conner and other WRs Marquise Brown and Rondale Moore round out a solid group.
This could be Blough’s path towards rising into a QB2 role during the 2023 season if he plays well. We’ll see how the former Vikings QB fares against the Falcons defense.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.